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Uchchatar Avishkar Yojana: e-PV Diesel Generator

In an attempt to improve the energy management system of the country, IIT Delhi researchers are developing a multifunctional PV-inverter controller to address the issue of instability that results from intermittency of solar power in case of a solar PV and diesel generator based micro grid.

The project titled e-PV diesel generator asa part of the Uchhatar Avishkar Yojana(UAY) of the Ministry of Human Resource Development(MHRD) entails developing a product that will help in providing cost effective power solution to remote locations like the border areas and attempt to bridge the gap between the academia and the industry by integrating the innovative approaches to conventional methods available in the market.

“There are many apartments having numerous diesel generators which consume a lot of diesel; creating a detrimental effect on greenhouse and energy economics. In India, due to grid failure, many of our commercial, residential, educational and defense establishment use diesel generator even during the day time. Subjecting to fast depletion of fossil fuels, this project aims to provide eco-friendly and clean energy production satisfying customer demands simultaneously. So the main objective of this project proposal is to design and manufacture an e-PV diesel generator system that can utilize PV energy along with diesel so that we can control emission as well as have diesel economics,” says Prof Sukumar Mishra, the principal investigator of the project.

Prof. Mishra will be working on the product in collaboration with Prof. Narayana Prasad Padhy from IIT Roorkee and an industry partner Ecosense Sustainable Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

The main challenge in this project is to reduce generation and load mismatch in an economical waywhile keeping in view the operational constraint. This can be achieved by operating the PV as a dispatchable source in a limited range(within its maximum generation capability at that instant). Similarly, the hunting of the diesel generator following a load change can be taken care by properly controlling the PV power from inverter so as to improve the life of the DG.

Furthermore, the application of this product can be aided with factors such as falling prices of energy unit obtained from PV and its components, easier and economic control interfaces for implementation, short time required for its setup.

In the modern world, the electrical appliances are mostly electronics load, producing harmonics. Aggregating these facilities into a single product, the e-PV diesel generator set will have a multi-functional inverter controller for obtaining diesel economics, increasing the life of diesel generator, increasing the operating capacity of the DG and giving a regulated voltage and frequency to the load.